All you need to know before sending money with Payoneer

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Our independent review of Payoneer

Payoneer is an online payment provider that allows you to send and receive payments to and from businesses and marketplaces in various countries around the world. Payoneer is intended only for business payments, receipts and currency conversion. Therefore, Payoneer’s services are slightly differently to a standard currency exchange provider in terms of how their currency exchange service functions, depending on the status of your and the beneficiary’s Payoneer accounts. Services are aimed at business owners, professionals, freelancers and product / service marketplaces. They provide direct payment solutions, currency conversions, integrations and ways for businesses and marketplaces to pay employees, contractors and others. Their services are not intended for personal use.

Some of the marketplaces they work with include Amazon, Fiverr, Airbnb, Upwork and more. They work across a variety of industries including eCommerce, advertising, stock photography, freelancing and rentals. Payoneer is a large and successful business with over 4 million users, availability in 200 countries and allows for payments in 150 currencies.

Fees & Exchange Rates

Signing up

Signing up for a Payoneer account is free.

Receiving payments

Receiving payments from another Payoneer customer’s account via the “Make a Payment” service is free.

Receiving money into your local receiving account via the Global Payment Service is free for the following currencies: EUR, GBP, JPY, AUD, CAD and CNY. There is a 0% to 1% fee for USD, depending on which country the payment originates from.

Receiving money directly from customers via credit or debit card is subject to a 3% fee.

Receiving money directly from customers via an eCheck in USD is subject to a 1% fee.

Receiving money from marketplaces is subject to fees set by each marketplace or network. These may vary so you should check their websites for precise rates.

Exchanging currency

Exchanging from one currency to another is subject to a 0.5% fee, above the interbank rate. You can check all fees in your Payoneer account and when you’re planning to make conversions, transfers or withdrawals.

Withdrawing funds

Withdrawing funds to a bank account in your local currency, assuming you have converted funds in the account, will be subject to a fee of $1.50, €1.50 or £1.50. These fees apply to transfers from a USD, EUR, or GBP receiving account to a bank account registered in the respective currency, located in the respective country and belonging to a locally-registered company or individual

Withdrawing funds to a bank account in a different currency will cost up to 2% above the interbank rate

Using the Payoneer prepaid Mastercard

When using the Payoneer card to make a purchase with a currency other than the card’s listed currency, the conversion is based on Mastercard’s official currency conversion rates. In addition to the conversion by Mastercard, Payoneer applies a currency conversion charge of up to 3.5%.

About fees levied by banks

Certain fees may be levied by banks when you are transferring money. These fees are outside the control of Payoneer. Circumstances where banks may charge additional fees include:

Wire transfers into or out of sender or beneficiary accounts

Transfers that are sent via SWIFT or certain other banking protocols

Beneficiary banks charging a fee to receive a transfer

Intermediary banks charging fees to process money in transit

These fees could mean that the beneficiary receives less money than stated by Payoneer due to circumstances beyond Payoneer’s control. If you want to understand what these extra fees are likely to be, please contact your bank and the beneficiary's bank.

Credibility & Security

Can I trust Payoneer? Yes. Payoneer is a large, reputable and trustworthy business. Payoneer was founded in 2005 and is backed by the same investors who funded Facebook, Dropbox and Expedia. Since they were founded, they have grown to over 1,000 employees globally, located across 14 offices around the world. Thousands of companies, marketplaces and individuals use Payoneer’s services to make and receive payments and send funds worldwide.

Payoneer has full international regulatory status in multiple regions, including the US, EU, Hong Kong, India and Japan. Here is a quote from their website:

“Our core obligation at Payoneer is to protect your funds and prevent money laundering. As a regulated entity, we provide multi-jurisdictional compliance assurances to your business. When partnering with us, you can be assured that all your payee disbursements are made through a fully compliant, secure and tightly audited payments platform that is recognized by financial regulators all around the world.”

Payoneer have received many awards, some of the more recent include:

Payoneer is one of Crain’s Best Places to Work in NYC

Payoneer Listed for Sixth Year in a Row on Deloitte's 2017 Technology Fast 500

Payoneer Makes Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies List for the Fifth Year in a Row

Service & Coverage

Payoneer Global Payment Service

The Global Payment Service provides you with a Payoneer receiving account. This account allows you to accept payments in multiple currencies as if you had a local bank account. When payment is made, it is received into your Payoneer account. You can also make payments to other Payoneer customers worldwide, for free. Note that Payoneer services are designed only for business transactions, not personal ones.

Payoneer Billing Service

Payoneer’s billing service works alongside the Global Payment Service. You can easily request a business payment in just a few clicks and send it to your clients. They can then pay the bill or invoice with a credit card, debit card or bank account and they do not need a Payoneer account. The payment will then be transferred to your Payoneer receiving account.

Note that this service is specifically designed for billing clients for business products or services. The service is not suitable for receiving payments for the sale of goods or services to consumers and should be limited to business related transactions. There are several other restrictions, which you can view here.

Payoneer Currency Conversion

Your Payoneer account holds balances in all the currencies that you’ve received. You can easily convert from one currency to another, for example if you want to withdraw funds in your local currency. Payoneer exchanges currency at the interbank* rate and charges an additional commission fee of 0.5% of the converted amount. Note that withdrawing funds to a bank in a different currency will attract a fee of up to 2% above interbank rates for converting funds into the other currency and withdrawing.

It is important to note that they only provide currency conversions for money already inside a Payoneer receiving account. You cannot fund a Payoneer account with your own card or regular bank account. In those cases, the beneficiary would need to create a Payoneer account and request funds from you. This can make the currency exchange process awkward and more costly due to payment fees. Please also note the restriction of Payoneer services to “business only” services, it cannot be used for person-to-person currency transfers.

Payoneer Mass Payout Service

Payoneer works with many established businesses and marketplaces to allow you to receive payments from the people who use that marketplace. For example, if you rent through Airbnb, provide services on Fiverr or sell goods on Amazon, you can choose to have the money you receive through those marketplaces transferred to you via Payoneer.

Payoneer Payments to Suppliers, Contractors and Others

Payoneer allows you to make payments to other Payoneer accounts, free of charge. You can use this to pay suppliers, contractors, freelancers and others that you have a business relationship with.

Provided they have a Payoneer account, you can make payments to them for services rendered or goods received. You can either send payments to them directly or they can request a payment from you via the Payoneer billing service. The Make a Payment Service enables a transfer of funds between Payoneer accounts for business-related purposes.

Withdrawing Funds from Payoneer

When you want to access your Payoneer funds, you can transfer them to your local bank account in your local currency in over 150 countries and currencies. You can also withdraw your funds to a prepaid card or via an ATM.

Payoneer Prepaid Credit Cards

Payoneer also provides prepaid credit cards from Mastercard that you can associate with any currency in your Payoneer account. You need to have a different physical card for each currency. You can find pricing and fees for your prepaid Payoneer card in your account details.

*The interbank rate is also known as the mid-market or standard exchange rate, which is the midpoint between the buying and the selling prices of the two currencies.

Payoneer mobile applications

Payoneer provides a mobile app with limited functionality. The app is available for Apple and Android devices and allows you to do the following:

Instantly check all currency and card balances

Review all transactions for all balances

Filter key transactions to preset criteria

Access information quickly with secure sign in

Additional perks and services from Payoneer

Payoneer also provides some more specific services targeted at certain types of customers:

VAT payment services — businesses can pay value-added tax to authorities in the EU and UK with the GBP and EUR funds in your Payoneer account

Integrated payments platform — Payoneer allows businesses to use its payment platforms through a comprehensive API, making it easier to send and receive payments around the world, all without leaving the business’s website

Partner directory — Payoneer provides a number of integrated services across many niches and list those services and businesses in a partner directory

Note that Payoneer does not allow you to use your Payoneer account or billing services for self-loading of money, topping up your prepaid card, gifts from family and friends or donations. It is intended only for business to business use.

Customer satisfaction

Customer reviews of Payoneer

Payoneer has received excellent reviews on Trustpilot, with a score of 9.2 out of 10. 93% of users rate them as “Excellent” or “Great” while only 4% of users rate them at “Poor” or “Bad.”

Positive

Customers were impressed with Payoneer’s customer service

Payoneer was praised for being helpful and understanding

Users enjoyed the number of options for sending and receiving payments

Negative

Some users had issues with Payoneer accounts being blocked

There were a few problems with delays to payments and pending payments

Some people complained about expensive withdrawal fees

Customer support

There are several ways to contact Payoneer including via message, live chat or telephone.

How it works

If you already have a Payoneer account with funds in it:

The beneficiary should open up a Payoneer account

Either you or the beneficiary can convert the currency in a Payoneer account, at the standard exchange rate, plus Payoneer fees

The money can be transferred to the beneficiary’s account when you choose to make a money transfer between Payoneer accounts

Once the money is in the beneficiary’s account, they can then withdraw it to their local bank account

There may be fees levied when they withdraw the money

If the beneficiary has a Payoneer account, but you do not:

The beneficiary can use Payoneer’s billing service to request funds from you

You can pay the bill by credit card, debit card or bank account

Payoneer may levy a fee depending on the type of payment you make

The beneficiary can convert the currency in a Payoneer account, at the standard exchange rate, plus Payoneer fees

Once the money is in the beneficiary’s account, they can then withdraw it to their local bank account

There may be fees levied when they withdraw the money

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Questions you may have

Before you make an international money transfer, compare the costs of the different options on Monito. Rates and fees change often, so for the best deal, do a comparison before every transfer — they may have changed since you last sent money. Once you enter the details about where you are sending money from and to, click on compare. You’ll see a list of all the options to send money between two countries. The best option is at the top, but you may want to consider other criteria such as the speed of transaction or the pay-in or payout methods.

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